This afternoon, a site called Razorianfly posted a very interesting tidbit of information along with a purported screenshot to back it up. According to the site, Tweetie 2.0 for Mac is launching tomorrow alongside the Mac App Store.
If true, this is big news for Mac users who have long feared that the beloved app had been left for dead since Twitter acquired Tweetie and its developer, Loren Brichter, back in April of last year. That acquisition included both the iPhone and Mac versions of the software. But while Tweetie for iPhone was relatively quickly turned into Twitter for iPhone, Tweetie for Mac has only seen minimal bug fixes. Meanwhile, Brichter was hard at work on Twitter for iPad. → Read More
When Twitter bought Atebits in April, a lot of us were excited about the possibilities. After all, Atebits (aka Loren Brichter) was the company behind Tweetie, the best iPhone Twitter client and arguably the best desktop Twitter client as well (though Mac-only). Developers, however, were not as enthusiastic. Many wondered what it meant for the state of the Twitter third-party ecosystem.
So far, the results of the acquisition seem to have worked out well for everyone. Tweetie for the iPhone was reborn as Twitter for iPhone. And while it’s largely the same, it has added a few bells and whistles thanks to the tighter Twitter integration. But other third-party clients, such as Seesmic and TweetDeck, have continued to thrive as well.
But make no mistakes, Twitter is still working on the next killer client. → Read More
Just as we suspected late last night, Twitter removed Tweetie 2 for the App Store yesterday to make room for the newly rebranded “Twitter for iPhone.” It’s there right now in the App Store, labeled as simply “Twitter” — but you can’t download it just yet, as it’s likely still in the process of being put up.
Without being able to see the app just yet, the thing that immediately jumps out is that it’s labeled as “Version 3.0″ — this suggests there will be some upgrades (beyond just the name) from Tweetie 2 (which, of course, was version 2.0). That said, Twitter for iPhone is actually smaller in file size than Tweetie 2 was (2.4 MB versus 2.8 MB), so I’m not sure what that means. That also doesn’t seem to bode well for the possibility that an iPad version of the app is included. → Read More
Something is amiss in the App Store right now. The best Twitter client, Tweetie 2, is nowhere to be found. So where did it fly off to? Did Apple pull it for some violation? Unlikely. Instead, the app’s new owners, Twitter, probably took it down. Why? Because their own version, dubbed “Twitter for iPhone,” is likely about to be released.
We see this happen all the time. For example, last week, the mobile payment startup Square was removed from the App Store just prior to the launch of its newly iPhone and iPad compatible app. Companies often remove their apps voluntarily to ensure the newest version is released when they choose. What this likely means is that Apple has already approved the new Twitter for iPhone, and now Twitter just has to put it in the store. → Read More
Before Twitter bought Atebits, Loren Brichter was busy. Not only was he hard at work on a follow up to Tweetie for Mac and a version for the iPad, but he had a secret side project that no one knew about. Until now. Meet Textie.
Textie is a dead-simple application with one purpose: free and beautiful texting for the iPhone and iPod touch. Given what a complete and utter rip-off traditional text messaging is, it’s a little surprising that there hasn’t been any backlash against the format. Instead, it’s exploding in usage. But as apps such as TextPlus have proven, there’s clearly a market for people who want to send messages without the fees. While TextPlus focuses mainly on group texting, Textie’s angle is to keep things clean and simple. The key ingredient is the interaction between the app and email. → Read More
Earlier this month when Twitter bought Atebits, aka Loren Brichter, the maker of the best iPhone Twitter client, Tweetie, they promised that Tweetie wouldn’t die. Instead it was to be turned into Twitter for iPhone. That update now appears to be coming soon.
In the final update to Tweetie 2 (2.1.2) that just went live in the App Store, the “What’s New” notes tell of a “Suprise!” The surprise is that when you pull down your tweet stream to refresh, you’re greeted with a new slot machine graphic. Hold it down long enough and the slot machine starts spinning. If it comes up with the right combo, you get a message that reads, “Coming Soon! Tweetie will be Twitter for iPhone (Look for the next app update)” → Read More
Twitter has just announced that it acquired Tweetie, the very popular and highly polished Twitter application for the iPhone . The application will now be called “Twitter for iPhone” and will drop from $2.99 to free, with developer Loren Brichter (who makes up the one-man startup Atebits) joining the Twitter mobile team. Twitter also plans to launch Twitter for the iPad, which Brichter will be involved with.
It’s a move that manages to be both jarring and unsurprising at the same time. Unsurprising, because Twitter investor Fred Wilson recently wrote that Twitter developers needed to stop “filling holes” in Twitter’s product and instead build entirely separate businesses. And just this morning, Twitter launched an official Twitter for BlackBerry application, so another mobile application shouldn’t come as much of a shock. And yet, the iPhone is the platform with the most robust Twitter presence, and Twitter has no doubt been benefiting from the contributions of these developers. Tweetie is extremely polished and is arguably the best, but there are plenty of other quality applications that are getting hung out to dry. Still, a move like this seemed inevitable. → Read More
Last October, developer Loren Brichter set the App Store on fire with the sequel to his brilliant iPhone Twitter client, Tweetie. It looks like he’s about to do the same to the Mac.
Brichter sent out a series of teasing tweets today indicating that Tweetie Two is coming soon for the Mac. One, from his atebits account, reads:
Ready… ready?! News about Tweetie Tw… ROOOOOAAAAR!! NOOOO DON’T EAT M *BLAM BLAM*. *CHOMMMPP* Aaaaararrrrrgghhhhhh.
Back in June, we wrote about Birdfeed, an iPhone Twitter application that finally brought the speed and simplicity to rival what many consider to be the top client, Tweetie. It’s a great app that offers a different look and feel from Tweetie (and especially now Tweetie 2), which some users prefer. And it’s about to gain a key feature which could further differentiate it: Geolocation.
Now, to be clear, as we previewed last month, the upcoming version of Tweetie, 2.1, will also support Twitter’s new geolocation feature. But the new version of Birdfeed, 1.2, does it in a way that highlights it much more. And in fact, when Twitter geolocation support finally does roll out (it’s due very soon, we hear), Birdfeed has a good shot to be the go-to app for it at launch. → Read More
As we noted on Friday, Tweetie 2, the new iPhone Twitter client by Atebits, launched in the App Store. We did a preview of it a few weeks ago, noting that it was the best Twitter client out there. Judging from the response on Twitter and elsewhere, most seem to agree. So what’s next?
Atebits has a short post today outlining what we can expect from them coming up. First and foremost are all the small bug fixes for Tweetie 2. Noting that despite the name, Tweetie 2 is a 1.0 release, developer Loren Brichter says the bugs will be fixed “soon.” But the bigger story is what he wants to squeeze into the next release of Tweetie: → Read More
A couple weeks ago we did a preview of Tweetie 2, the next version of the iPhone Twitter client. To say there was a lot of interest in obtaining the app is an understatement. And now you can. Earlier today, Apple approved the app, and it just went live in the App Store.
You may not be able to find it through a search right now, but use this link to go directly to it. → Read More
The Mac is finally getting some seriously awesome, native clients. Say what you want about TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop – these are all based on Adobe’s AIR platform, which is notorious for eating up memory and CPU cycles, along with weird window placement quirks. Earlier this month Nambu got a huge upgrade, and has quickly become my Twitter client of choice. But that might change next Monday, when Tweetie – easily one of the best Twitter clients on the iPhone – comes to the Mac desktop.
Less than an hour ago atebits, the one-man company behind Tweetie, posted a demo video of their new Twitter client, which we’ve embedded below. We’ve also managed to get our hands on an early build of the product, and it doesn’t fail to impress. We’ll reserve our full review for Monday, but here are some of my initial impressions: → Read More
